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Friday, April 8, 2011

Craig Thomas: R.I.P.

Author David Craig Owen Thomas known as Craig Thomas, a Welsh author of thrillers, most notably the "Mitchell Gant" series, has died at the age of 69 after a recent illness from pneumonia following a short battle with acute myeloid leukemia.

Fans regard the Cardiff-born author as the inventor of the Techno-Thriller genre which includes his book, Firefox, made into a Hollywood blockbuster. The 1982 movie starred Clint Eastwood as the US fighter pilot and spy Mitchell Gant, a character in a series of Thomas's books. Firefox Down the sequel to Firefox was dedicated to Clint Eastwood.

Thomas wrote 17 novels between 1976 and 1998. Aside from writing techno-thrillers Thomas also wrote books relating to philosophy the most recent being a two-volume book on the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche.

The BBC obituary can be found here and the Western Mail obituary here.